Saturday, February 27, 2010

DAHI VADA

Deep fried black gram (urad dal) balls, soaked in healthy curd!!!! What comes in your mind??? Yes, it is Dahi Vada???Dahi vada is very popular and common in almost all weddings and it is excellent when it is served chilled. Actually dahi vada is used for preparing varieties of chat.

Dahi vada will give you an excellent taste in summer. I made this for welcoming my guests few days back. I am putting down my pen to write this because summer is ahead and we should enjoy it without getting bore. I won’t debate about the origin of dhai vada since I am seeing this in every corner of India. When I was studying in Bhubaneswar I remember we used to eat this in corner of College Street along with Dum Aloo.

In Cuttack, there used to be a MELA called as “Bali yatra” and there used to be a separate place for dahi vada and Dum aloo.Have you ever tried this combination, if no then give a try you will surely love it. Anyway, here is dahi vada recipe:-

Dahi Vada

Preparation time: 30 minutes (Approximately)

Cooking time: 40 minutes (Approximately)

Serving-6 persons

Ingredients for vada

Black gram Dal-2 cups

Fenugreek seeds-1 tsp

Salt-to taste

Green Chillies-3-4 (Finely chopped)

Grated ginger-1 tsp

Asafetida-1 tsp

Warm water-2 cups

What you need to do for making vada

• Wash and soak black gram dal with fenugreek seeds for 2 hours.

• Grind dal without adding water.

• Add salt, chopped green chillies, grated ginger and asafoetida.

• Heat oil in a pan and keep flame in low.

• Now take a small ball of urad dal paste (I do not make whole in vada but it is your’s choice) and put in hot oil in low flame.

• Fry till it is cooked but remember vadas should not get burn at all and do not become red in colour.

• Now put the fried vada in warm water for 10 minutes.

• Squeeze water from vada and keep in serving dish.

Ingredients for making curd for vada

Curd-2 cups

Salt- to taste

Sugar-1 tsp

Roasted cumin powder-1 tsp

Red chilli powder-1 tsp (or to taste)

Chat powder-1/2 tsp (optional)

How to prepare curd for vada???

• Beat curd, by hand mixer or egg beater, by adding salt and sugar.

• Now add this curd on the top of vadas.

• Then put on the top of it put cumin powder, chilli powder and chat powder.

For Seasoning

Oil-1 tsp

Mustard seeds-1 tsp

Curry leaves-few

Asafetida-1/2 tsp

Dry red chillies-1 (broken in two)

For Garnish

Coriander leaves-finely chopped

How to season the curd vada???

• Heat tsp oil in a pan.

• Add mustard seed in hot oil.

• Once mustered are cracked add the remain ingredients in this and put on the top of curd vada.

• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve chill.

MY TIPS

• If you want to make whole in vadas then use a thick plastic cover or a small piece of plantain leaf. Put little water on cover or leaf then keep a small ball of urad dal and make a small whole in this with the help of your finger. Put very carefully this vada in hot oil.

• You can also use some grated carrot for garnishing along with coriander leaves.

Dear SubhashiniDahi Vadas are for ever and I like the Orissa version the most...Such is my obssession with dahi badas that I will go any extent to make it...read my blog on dahi vada ( not the recipe but the story at the introduction) Happy hloi, bhala thiba